We started harvest on the 28th of August when our Chardonnay was ready for our new sparkling program (we will post more about this when the time comes). 2 Tons of young, bright, and acidic Chardonnay from Seneca Lake went into the press as whole clusters and we have not stopped since.
21 Fermentations to be exact comprising of the following grapes: Chardonnay, Baco Noir Seyval Blanc, DeChaunac, Frontenac, Cabernet Franc, Riesling, Traminette, Catawba, Merlot, Petite Verdot, and Cabernet Sauvignon. From this, the possibilities will be endless!
The next few weeks will consist of racking some of the wines off of their heavy lees (sediment) and moving some into their new oak homes for the winter months. Others will spend a short time in stainless steel until we bottle in the spring. As the wines progress, we will inform you about their condition as well as our new releases and so on.
In the vineyard, we have introduced the sheep into one block of Baco Noir for grazing and the results are quite amazing. We will be doing more under vine grazing starting in December, after the breading season is finished. We will be breeding 5 of the ewes in the coming weeks and be lambing in April some time. Again, we will post more about this at a later date.
In Short, it has been a very fruitful harvest with some beautiful wines that came from it. It was long and often times trying, but the results have been great, and we look forward to sharing them with you when the time comes.
